Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Interviewees Christine Roller Fesi Sitake Catherine Slatter Interviewers Steven Bench Skyler Ridley Jesse Checkman and Katrina Peerk Copyright © 2023 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: [Interviewee Last Name], [Interviewee First Name], an oral history by [Interviewer First and Last Name], [Date of Interview], WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Oral History Program Christine Roller Interviewed by Steven Bench 21 March 2017 Oral History Program Christine Roller Circa 2017 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Christine Roller, conducted on March 21, 2017 by Steven Bench at PAK-N-Wrap in Sandy, Utah. Christine discusses her experiences as a small business owner. SB: My name is Steve Bench, student at Weber State University’s Masters of Professional Communication program. I am here with Christine Roller, who is a small business owner. What business do you own, Chris? CR: I own PAK-N-Wrap. SB: What kind of company is it? CR: It’s a packaging store. We sell various packaging supplies. SB: How long have you been doing that? CR: I have owned my business since 2012. SB: Where are you located? CR: We’re down on 9330 South State Street in Sandy, Utah. SB: Well, Chris, just to get started, I wanted to ask a few questions to get a background. Where did you grow up? CR: I grew up in Salt Lake. SB: Okay. What part of Salt Lake? CR: It was called the Poplar Grove area. SB: Okay. Anything as far as fun, activities, passions, or hobbies that you had while growing up? CR: I really didn’t have any. I mean, there was always hobbies as far as being entrepreneurial all throughout. There were little things you did as a kid, like going out and trying to sell things on your own, go make some money selling this door- 1 to-door, but I was never involved in any activities in school. I just made sure I hung out with the right crowd. SB: What about grades? Did you focus on grades? CR: Yes. Same thing. SB: Did you ever make the honor roll? CR: Yeah. SB: Did you get 4.0’s? CR: No. SB: But you did make the Honor Roll. CR: Yes. SB: Awesome. When you made it through high school, did you go to college? CR: Yes. Immediately after I graduated high school—I went to West High—I went directly to college. I went to the University of Utah. I did that for about a year and a half. Started doing summer school to give myself a break, which was crazy. After being there for a while, I realized that I should go to Salt Lake Community College. They had the same courses, the same textbooks. I switched and went to the Salt Lake Community College for another couple years. SB: Did you get your degree? CR: I didn’t. I got involved with the company I was working for, XPEDX, and I got into management back then, and that was when everything got brushed to the side, and that’s where I went. SB: What year did you get started with XPEDX? CR: Back in 1984. 2 SB: Did you go right into management? CR: It was probably a year after I started that I became the assistant manager for five or six years. SB: Then you became manager? CR: Yes. SB: When you first started, were you in sales? CR: No. What was good about the company is that they helped me grow. They let me grow the store the way I wanted to, in an entrepreneurial way. I would say, “We should do this, and we should do that.” SB: Was it like you had your own business? CR: Yeah. It was like I had my own business, and I was able to grow, and we were able to do really well. SB: When you first started, what was your position? CR: Customer service. SB: And then you got promoted? CR: I was part-time, actually, while I was going to school. SB: Did an assistant management position open up? CR: The assistant management position opened up after I had my first child. I came back after my maternity leave. They had some changed, and that position had opened up. SB: So you were assistant manager for five or six years? CR: Yes, for five or six years. SB: And then you were promoted to manager? 3 CR: Yes. My first management position was down in Orem. I did that for a couple years until I got sick of the commute down there. A lot of flat tires. But I was able to go down there and grow the business, change things, and make that a great location. SB: Did XPEDX pay for your training? Did they have online courses? CR: We had different types of training that we would go to, but it was more production training. We had some training where we would go through and do some business training. It was a mixture throughout the years I was there. SB: Was there anything leadership-focused? CR: There was one or two of those that we went through. I actually still have one of the leadership manuals in my office. SB: Do you remember what it was called? CR: No. It was one that they came out with. SB: Did that have an impact on you as a leader? Did it teach you how to motivate people? CR: I want to say yes, because I was able to hear praise from my managers and see the results. I was very results-driven. That would make me want to do more. I would set goals for myself every year. Every year, we would come in, and we would have a new goal for ourselves: what we were going to do better, and what we didn’t do as well the year before. It helped me figure out and focus on what I wanted to do. I would follow up on those with my supervisor. SB: How long were you a manager at XPEDX? 4 CR: I worked with them for 28 years. I want to say that at least 20 of those years, I was a manager. SB: How many people did you employ while you were at XPEDX? CR: The most employees I had working for me was during the holiday season. Usually, we would get up to about 18 employees. SB: 18? Would that die off after the holidays? CR: Yes. That would die off after the holidays. SB: How many were you left with then? CR: Around 12. SB: What would you say your leadership values are? What is leadership to Chris Roller? CR: I believe in being honest. Having humility when you have done something wrong. I have learned to face it, move on, and grow from that experience. SB: Would you say accountability? CR: Yes, accountability. I think that I have a good set of family core values that helped me and bled into my work life, too. I have learned to choose right from wrong. SB: Would you say your family had a big impact on you? CR: Yes. I have had to learn on my own too. I have had to make sure that I push myself. Another person that has been a great part of my life, that’s pushed me from the very beginning—I sometimes wonder if he didn’t push me, if I would be here—is my spouse. He pushed me in the beginning. He had faith in me, and he could see that I could do it. 5 SB: Would you say he was more like a coach and encouraged you? CR: Encouraged, yes. SB: He encouraged you to be successful? CR: Yes. As far as the business and stuff, I learned on my own. SB: So it’s good to have that support system? CR: Yes, it’s good to have that support system, but it’s also been good to have the good management that I have had throughout my years in XPEDX. I had a good supervisor. His name was Hunter Miller. He was very hard and harsh. At the same time, if you had great results, then you would see it from him. I was not able to be intimidated by somebody like that, and we ended up being great friends. It was really good, and he taught me a lot. SB: Wow. That’s interesting. What if you were to compare Hunter with the other managers? CR: He was one of the better ones. He was more engaged. Even though you were accountable if you did something wrong, you could tell that the other managers were very relaxed. They were not engaged with others. I noticed them, and I know which one I learned from. I learned from Hunter. He was harder, but better. SB: He was harder in that he was stricter and required more out of you? CR: He required a lot out of you. Yes, he pushed you. SB: Was he a jerk about it, or was more high-energy? CR: Sometimes he was a jerk. In the beginning, he tried to be sort of military, but once he had seen what I could do, then it would be easier for him to lay off. 6 SB: I had an experience where I was going into OCS, Officer Candidate School, for the Marines. We were down doing a training, and these two gunnery sergeants were just barking at me the entire morning. I was kind of a bigger guy, and they were calling me all sorts of names. CR: Yeah, they were trying to push you. SB: Then we had to do a run, and I was right on the heels of the fastest kid, and they left me alone! CR: Once you proved yourself, I think they noticed it was good. You had to push yourself, and then they see that you are great. You make their lives easier. SB: I want to talk to you about some of the challenges you face being a woman and a minority business owner. We are in Utah, which has a religious majority and white majority. CR: I think Utah is more open to entrepreneurship, from what I’ve noticed. I think that there are tools out there for small business owners, women, and minority business owners to get support and help from. There are different customers I have that actually help with People Helping People, which is an organization that helps a lot of the women. There are a lot of resources out there for these ladies. If they have the talent and they have the desire, there is help for them. There are a lot of people opening up businesses, I see it in a lot of my customers who are women. They are making and selling things on eBay and Etsy. I see a lot of that come through here. It’s fun to see. I think that as long as you have the desire, even if you don’t have the skills, there are people where you can go learn them from. 7 SB: As far as challenges, you haven’t felt many roadblocks? CR: I haven’t felt that personally for me. Maybe I have been in it so long that everything kind of flowed for me, because I was able to maintain suppliers. The hardest thing was to gather my funds and start this business. Other than gathering funds, I haven’t really had any challenges being a minority woman business leader yet. SB: Would you say for other women and minorities, the challenges deal more with knowledge and communication, knowing where they can get the help they need? CR: Yes. Like I told you, there is help out there. People Helping People; the community college has things to help. I know the Sandy City Chamber of Commerce does as well. SB: Do you have any advice for young women or minority leaders to be successful at starting their own business? CR: Make sure that they study and that they are really knowledgeable about what they are getting into. Having honesty as a core value. Not doubting themselves. They shouldn’t dive right into it; they should give themselves time to learn. SB: So, slow down and don’t jump right into something? CR: Yes. I think that there are a lot of people these days who think they can jump into things without taking the time to learn about all the different things that go into a business. SB: Do you think it would be beneficial for them to take college classes that are more business-oriented? 8 CR: Yes, basic accounting and business classes are good. I also know there are mentors and people out there willing to help them. SB: As far as mentors go, would you say Kelly and Hunter were yours? CR: They were my main ones. It is always good to have encouragement. You can use your family as your Shark Tank. You can present to them and let them see your idea. They can give you feedback or tell you if they see it going anywhere. SB: Do you have any other thoughts about being a woman business owner in Northern Utah? CR: No. Utah is very friendly towards that. I don’t feel like there’s ben any barriers that I’ve encountered. SB: Thank you, Chris. That will conclude our interview. 9 Oral History Program Fesi Sitake Interviewed by Skyler Ridley 31 March 2017 Oral History Program Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Fesi Sitake, conducted by Skyler Ridley on March 31, 2017 at the Football Offices of Weber State University. Sitake discusses his upbringing and his experience as a minority leader. SR: Fesi, will you introduce yourself as we begin this interview? FS: My name is Fesi Sitake. I am the offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach here at Weber State University. I am Tongan, of Tongan descent, which is what makes me a minority. SR: Please tell me a little bit about your background and your upbringing. FS: I was born in Provo, Utah, [but I] quickly moved to Hawaii due to my dad’s work. I grew up there for a couple years and then settled back here in Utah, so Utah is truly what is home to me. I grew up in Sandy, Utah; attended Hillcrest High School and received a scholarship to play football out of high school. I went to Southern Utah University for a year and then went on an LDS mission for two years. I came back and finished my next three years at Southern Utah University. I got my bachelors degree in business marketing. SR: What experiences did you have growing up that led you to believe you could be a leader? FS: I’d say the biggest one is that at a very young age, my mom was diagnosed with an illness that basically gave her dementia and Alzheimer’s. My dad had to be away at work a lot of the time. I was alone with four sisters, and although I was four of five in the family, being the only male, I still felt a responsibility and a duty to be not just a brother, but a father figure to my sisters, who I knew had no mother and whose father was working and doing the right thing and trying to 1 provide for the family. With that experience alone, she ended up passing away [as I was] going into my senior year of high school, which continued to give me that burden and responsibility of being a father figure to my sisters, which I am grateful for. I would say that experience is definitely what allowed me to grow as a leader. SR: What are some of your core values, and how have they influenced you as a leader? FS: The biggest one, I would say, is love. I know it can be a cliché thing, but I’ve seen it work, especially in coaching. There are a lot of young men who I interact with who have struggled and have had a rough childhood. Some have come from families that have done well, but regardless, every young man goes through struggles and trials. I have been able to relate with a lot of the guys. There is a saying and a motto I like to live by which says, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” What I have been able to see as a leader is that if you are able to show love and let people know that you genuinely care about them and that their happiness is of your best interest, I bet you’ll start to see your leadership come to more fruition. The other one I would say, alongside love, and it’s kind of a brother to it, is faith, and just always being optimistic and hopeful for the best; having a positive attitude about things. That combined with love, I think, will really cause everything else to fall into place. Those are two core values that I have grown up being surrounded by, which is what I have implemented as a leader that has really helped. SR: Name one person who has impacted you as a leader? 2 FS: I think the biggest challenge, and I don’t know if its reality or something I’ve just put on myself as a challenge, is stereotyping. Whether it is reality or not, that is just what I have seen. It has been burdensome to me, but the reality is that I am in a position as a leader where a lot of people are not able to be at right now, so stereotyping for me is a challenge. It is a challenge I have put on myself. I think stereotyping is something that comes along with being a minority. Through social media or the media in general, there is a lot of stereotyping that goes on, so naturally, as a minority, you put yourself in that boat, which can blind you to some of the success that may come your way. That has been a challenge because I have put those on myself. SR: What advice would you give to a young minority leader? FS: I think it would be to do what I did, and that is, stop making excuses. You are a minority, and there is nothing you can do about it. You can actually use it as a strength and view being a minority as a strength. A lot of minorities grow up different culturally, and there are a lot of things instilled in minorities at a young age with the culture they are involved in. The second I was able to put my differences and insecurities aside and then look at differences as strengths, that is when I was really able to learn and grow as a leader. So my biggest advice would be, “You are a minority. Be proud of it. Don’t give into any of the noise out there about stereotyping.” The reality is that those core values and principle that you know to be true, live those and you will find success, no matter where you come from. SR: I appreciate your time and responses, Fesi. Thank you. 3 Oral History Program Catherine Slatter Interviewed by Jesse Checkman and Katrina Peek 31 January 2018 Oral History Program Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Catherine Slatter. It was conducted on January 31, 2018 and concerns her recollections and experiences. The interviewer is Katrina Peek, recorded by Jesse Checkman, and transcribed by Heather Sachs. KP: Okay, please start by telling us about your background such as your childhood, teen years, where you grew up, hobbies, family values, education, etc. CS: I grew up outside of Flint, Michigan in a tiny town called Goodrich: a suburban town that used to be kind of a farm area, and it’s become an upperechelon middle-class place to live now, but it was nothing like that when I was a child. My father was always in the construction industry. He started out as a carpenter, and then a supervisor, and then he ended his career by selling building supplies. My mom was a teacher, but she didn’t teach when we were kids; she stayed at home with us. I went to the same high school K through 12 with the same kids, which was real common in that tiny town where I grew up. I went to the University of Michigan after I graduated from high school and went on to start my career with General Motors and then moved into the aerospace business. KP: Great. What sort of experiences did you have such as in your childhood, teen years, adult years that led you to believe that you would or could be a leader? CS: I think some of it came natural. I always wanted to be in a leadership position. I always trusted myself more than I trusted other people, and I still kind of have that same mindset. I feel like if I want something done right, a lot of the 1 time, I have to do it by myself. So I kind of had that leadership personality from the start. KP: Great. So what would you say are your core values? How have they influenced your leadership experiences/abilities? CP: I think some of my core values are a very good work ethic; I’ve always been a very hard worker. I have always valued honesty. I feel like if you make a mistake, you should be open and honest and tell people that you made a mistake. I think that people learn best by doing things hands-on, and I know that is not the case for some people, and that might be one of my flaws that I have in being a leader. I like it when people will take on a task and figure out how to do it, and I can kind of provide some guidance, opposed to giving specific directions on how someone should follow through with the task. KP: Could you explain a little more about how you motivate those people who don’t just take on those tasks? CS: In my experience, I have found that people may be apprehensive to make mistakes. I try to assure them that I understand that this a learning process; I understand that you have never done anything like this before, but I trust you and I trust that you are going to good job, and I would like for you to give it a shot, give it a go. We will talk about it, see how we can fix some of the mistakes that may have been made and possibly give them direction along the way. KP: All right, so can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? 2 CS: He was my mentor when I started my career in Aerospace; his name was Brian Gora and he was the group president at Goodrich. He was very good in recognizing some of the natural talents that I had and helped me along with understanding how to be a manager, how to create a good work environment and a team environment while also gaining respect from your employees. KP: What do you see as the biggest challenge of being a female leader in a Northern Utah, and how do you overcome these challenges? CA: I do not like to distinguish myself as a woman. I have a very hard time with women organizations, women being segregated out. I have always thought of myself as whatever the position is that I am holding. I think of myself as a CFO, I thought of myself as an analyst, as a marketing manager. I have never thought that I have been disadvantaged because I am a woman. It’s kind of a sore spot for me. I often get invited to Women in Business groups and I think it doesn’t do women justice. KP: Okay, I completely understand that. Would you say that younger women could use a mentor such as yourself to help them be better leaders? CS: I would say that. Actually, that is a lot of what I try to communicate to my daughter and her friends. Actually, there was an incident not too long ago with the Women’s March, and my daughter was asking me what it was all about, and I explained to her that, “I don’t think that you’re disadvantaged because you’re a woman.” I told her to never believe that she was going to be in a position of disadvantage because she was a woman. KP: This goes again to the women leaders in Northern Utah. What other insights 3 can you share about being a woman leader, or just a leader in general in Northern Utah? CS: I have not found it to be difficult. I grew up in the Aerospace Industry which is mostly male-dominated. When I came to Northern Utah, it wasn’t any different for me. When I had my first management position in Ohio for the Aerospace firm that I worked for, I was the only female manager in the organization. So, for me to come to a place where women are not as prevalent in the workforce, and especially in management positions, it really wasn’t different for me at all. I haven’t found it to be challenging. I often find it to be a benefit. When you are in a group that is somewhat of a minority, you tend to be remembered more. People will recognize your face; they will remember you. That is how I look at it, being women in the workplace here. 4